Charlotte Immenschuh, who shopped at North Star Mall with 3-year-old son Owen on Friday afternoon, counts herself among the masses who still haven't finished shopping, and were likely to need to keep at it through the weekend.

“I'm a failed statistic this year,” she said. “I still have more to do.”

Dustin Green of Yoakum was just starting his shopping Friday, but he was in no panic. His solution to what to give his three children for Christmas: Let them pick it out themselves.

“The girls are stoked,” he said, as one of his two daughters had just discovered the location of the Build-A-Bear Workshop. She managed to pry a $100 bill from Green before heading toward the store.

“I don't think I'm going to get much of that back,” Green said, watching his money walk away.

He's hardly alone. A Visa survey released on Monday found that almost three-fourths of consumers had not completed their Christmas shopping, and 16 percent had not begun.

And then there are the much-envied shoppers like Cheryl Kalter, who finished most of her shopping two months ago, and on Friday was simply exchanging a pair of pajamas.

“Truthfully, my grandkids have everything already,” she said.

So Kalter instead was able to leisurely shop and pick up a wire-and-bead Christmas tree at J.C. Penney for her daughter. “Isn't this fabulous?” she asked. “It's half off.”

During the final weekend before Christmas, shoppers should expect to see extended store hours and more “70 percent off” and “buy one, get one free” signs as stores try to salvage the shopping season.

Although this Christmas will likely surpass 2011 in the amount consumers spend, it's not as strong as retailers had initially hoped.

Teen retailer Aeropostale Inc. has slashed prices on everything in its stores by 60 percent. Rival teen chain American Eagle Outfitters is offering 40 percent off all purchases. Saks Fifth Avenue is cutting prices on some designer clothing up to 60 percent. And Children's Place, a children's clothing chain, is offering up to 75 percent off on its website.

ShopperTrak, based in Chicago, said Wednesday that it expects holiday sales to be up 2.5 percent from last year.

That's lower than the 3.7 percent it had predicted a few months ago. The company says Superstorm Sandy and “heavily discounted merchandise” are responsible for the reduced forecast.

“We were hoping that this past Saturday would be the kickoff to good things to come,” said Bill Martin, co-founder of ShopperTrak. “But it feels like the steam is out of the holiday since Black Friday.”

But as people left school and work Friday to shop, it didn't appear like the steam had gone out of anything.

Leo Hernandez purchased stocking stuffers for his wife on Friday, but was still looking for gifts for his brother and nephew.

“As you get close to Christmas, you get more of the deals,” Hernandez said.

And even with retailers offering strong discounts, Hernandez, who works for oil field services giant Halliburton and visits drilling rigs across the Eagle Ford Shale play in South Texas, said that this year he'll probably spend a little more on gifts than he did in 2011.

“The economy is good,” he said. “The industry is good in the oil field.”